儿童英语读物 The Mystery in the Snow CHAPTER 14 More Mischief

Inside the lodge¹, the Aldens got cups of hot chocolate and cinnamon buns and sat down by the fire.

Grandfather and Mr. Mercer came in.

“Congratulations, Henry,” Mr. Mercer said. “You skied well.”

“Thank you,” Henry said.

“And, Benny, your snow sculpture is something to see.”

Benny smiled, but Grandfather could tell something was troubling him.

“What’s wrong, Benny?” Grandfather asked.

“Someone’s trying to keep our team from winning,” Benny blurted².

Mr. Mercer’s dark eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”

“It looks that way,” Henry said.

Mr. Alden sank into a chair. “We heard there was some trouble with the snow sculptures, but…” his voice trailed off.

“And someone took Matt’s skis to keep him from doing his best,” Benny said.

Mr. Mercer shook his head. “Jimmy said something at breakfast about missing skis. He wanted me to call off the race. I thought they’d turn up — that they were just misplaced.” He paused. “Who could do such a thing?” he wondered.

“So many things have been going wrong — even the missing keys and the flat tires,” Henry said.

“But they have nothing to do with your team,” Mr. Alden said.

Henry nodded. “That’s why this mystery is so confusing.”

Just then, there was a commotion³ at the door. Nan and Pete were shouting at each other and tugging⁴ at something.

“Here, here. What’s going on?” Mr. Mercer called.

Nan and Pete marched over. Each had hold of one of Pete’s blue earmuffs. They were tugging so hard that the metal connecting band was stretched to its limit.

“She won’t give me my earmuffs!” Pete complained.

“He ruined our ice carving⁵!” Nan snapped. “We were making a castle. Now, the tower’s gone.” She wiped her tears with her red scarf. “Pete did it,” she concluded. “We found his earmuffs right there in the snow.”

Pete rolled his eyes. “I didn’t do it,” he defended. “Someone took my earmuffs.”

The Aldens exchanged disbelieving glances. Now, the mischief⁶ was aimed at both teams.

Everyone trekked⁷ outside to look at the ice carving Freddy’s team had made. The entire castle tower had melted away.

“The sun didn’t do it,” Mr. Mercer decided⁸. “It doesn’t work that fast.”

“I didn’t do it, either,” Pete said.

The Aldens thought he was telling the truth. He was too busy with his stopwatch. He wouldn’t have had the time to melt the ice.

“What happened?” Jimmy asked, walking up to the group clustered around the melted ice sculpture.

Nan told him.

“We have to call off this event,” Jimmy said. “There isn’t enough time to finish before the judging tomorrow.”

Mr. Mercer shook his head. “Don’t worry,” he said to the ice carvers. “We’ll figure out something.”

“How can we make a castle without a tower?” Nan asked.

“Make something else,” Benny suggested.

“We’d better go check our sculpture,” Violet said, and they all paraded over there. Violet’s team’s ice carving had not been damaged.

“That’s a relief,” she said.

Just then, Freddy and Beth ran to join them.

“What’s up?” Henry asked.

Freddy raised her hand. In it was Benny’s pink cup.

“Hey,” Benny said, “what’re you doing with my cup?”

“I found it at the rink, Benny,” Freddy told him.

Benny’s mouth dropped open. The last time he had seen his cup, his snow self was holding it.

“Someone’s ruined the ice,” Beth said. “Patches are chipped and broken. People trying to skate there would have trouble staying on their feet. Racing⁹ or figure skating would be impossible.”

Freddy held up a chisel¹⁰. “Whoever did it used this.”

“Who could’ve done this?” Benny wondered aloud.

Beth and Freddy stared at him.

“Wait a minute,” Benny said. “You don’t think I did it?”

“Of course they don’t, Benny,” Jessie assured him.

Freddy held up the cup again. “Whoever left this here wanted us to think you did it,” she said and gave it to him.

All of a sudden, Jimmy said, “I’ll see you later. I have to talk to Mr. Mercer. Maybe he’ll call off the games.” He dashed away.

Watching him, Freddy said, “He is really acting¹¹ weird¹². I don’t know how many times he’s said we should call off the games.”

Everyone headed toward the lodge.

“He probably just wants everything to go right,” Beth said.

“With his parents coming for the awards dinner and everything,” Jessie put in.

Freddy looked at her in disbelief. “His parents aren’t coming for dinner,” she said. “They never come for anything. They just drop him here. They don’t even pick him up until everyone else has gone home.”

“But he told us they were coming,” Benny said.

“Wishful thinking,” Freddy responded.

Matt rushed up. “My skis are back,” he told them. “I just found them in the equipment shop.”

“This is getting stranger and stranger,” Freddy commented.

After dinner, Mr. Mercer clapped for silence. “As you all know, we’ve had some trouble this year,” he said. “First the keys to the equipment shop were missing, then my tires were flat. Someone damaged the snow sculptures and one of the ice carvings¹³.” Then, he went on, “Jimmy Phelps came to talk to me at breakfast this morning. He thought we should call off the ski race because Matt’s skis were missing.”

Henry leaned toward Jessie. “Didn’t Matt say he left the skis by the rack just before breakfast?” he whispered.

Jessie searched her memory. “I think so,” she said.

“And he didn’t know they were missing until the race?”

Jessie nodded.

“How did Jimmy know they were missing at breakfast?”

Her eyes wide, Jessie looked at her brother. Did he think Jimmy had caused all the trouble?

1 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

2 blurted   

v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She blurted it out before I could stop her. 我还没来得及制止，她已脱口而出。
• He blurted out the truth, that he committed the crime. 他不慎说出了真相，说是他犯了那个罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 commotion   

n.骚动，动乱

参考例句：

• They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵，引起了一阵骚乱。
• Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间，整条街道变得一片混乱。

4 tugging   

n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉，样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他，一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句

5 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

6 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

7 trekked   

v.艰苦跋涉，徒步旅行( trek的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在山中）远足，徒步旅行，游山玩水

参考例句：

• They trekked for three days along the banks of the Zambezi. 他们沿着赞比西河河岸跋涉了三天。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Six-man teams trekked through the woods, respectively for 72 to 96 hours. 6人一组的小分队，经过长途跋涉，穿过了森林，分别用72小时到96小时不等。 来自互联网

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

10 chisel   

n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿

参考例句：

• This chisel is useful for getting into awkward spaces.这凿子在要伸入到犄角儿里时十分有用。
• Camille used a hammer and chisel to carve out a figure from the marble.卡米尔用锤子和凿子将大理石雕刻出一个人像。

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

13 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》